Glastonbury's Risinger Can Only Get Better

Glastonbury's Reid Risinger is The Courant's boys tennis player of the year.

Glastonbury's Reid Risinger is The Courant's boys tennis player of the year. (Richard Messina, Hartford Courant)

REID RISINGER, GLASTONBURY

CLASS: Sophomore

COACH: Kim Francis

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Helped lead Glastonbury to a near-perfect regular season (16-1), a CCC North title and a third-place showing in the Class LL championship. … Advanced to the Class LL semifinals before losing to eventual champion Daniel Hirschberg of Staples-Westport, 6-2, 6-1. He the only player to win a game against Hirschberg in the tournament. … Went 14-0 during the regular season. … Rated seventh in Connecticut and 23rd in New England in USTA under-16 rankings.

RISINGER SAID: "I love this team. I have so much fun playing out here with all my friends. It is just an awesome experience. … In [USTA] tournaments, it is totally different. It is all focused right on tennis. There is no cheering or anything like that. But in high school you get to come and hang out and you have people cheering for you. It is cool. … I love playing tennis. It is just a great game to play. It just makes me work hard and it is sort of a metaphor for life for me. I guess in terms of how I play, I'm just trying to be an aggressive base-liner and then off the court hopefully people see me as a nice guy that is always willing to play and have a good time."

FRANCIS SAID: "He'll just do whatever it takes because that is his personality. He is constantly working on his game and trying to make himself better. He wants the whole team to work really hard because he works extremely hard. He definitely thrives on competing and he loves it. I feel like he wants to keep on improving and keep getting better. Some kids would just be content on what they have but he always feels like he has to get better and work on his game. ... I definitely would bank on him winning the singles championship next year or the following year. I don't want to put pressure on him but he is that good of a player. "

UP NEXT: Traveled to Boca Raton, Fla., on June 26 to attend the Evert Academy for two weeks and will play more USTA tournaments over the summer. Plans to play his final two years for Glastonbury and hopes to play at a top college.

IN 10 YEARS: "Probably still in college. My dad is an orthodontist so I've been thinking about that."

MISCELLANEOUS: Started playing tennis when he was 3 and played his first tournament at 9. … Trying to start a club at Glastonbury where all the student athletes can join together to do community service. … Plans to give volunteer tennis lessons to younger players in Hartford this summer with tennis pro Phil Gordon. … Favorite tennis player is American Ryan Harrison. … Worked with Brian Barker, James Blake's former coach, over the winter. … Father Rick and uncles Randy and David played for for Glastonbury High. … Sister Morgan is ranked 23rd in New England in the USTA under-12 rankings. … Brother Colin plays basketball and lacrosse and will be a freshman this year at Glastonbury.